LONDON MEETING. We are planning another London get together on Saturday 24th June from 11:30 at The George, Borough High Street, Southwark, Greater London, SE1 1NH. All are welcome. Your Weekend Quick Cryptic Compilers and several TfTT bloggers and regular commenters will be there. We are also expecting Mick Hodgkin, the Times Puzzles Editor, Richard Rogan, Times Crossword Editor and Pete Biddlecombe, Sundays Times Crossword Editor and founder of Times for The Times to drop in. The George no longer allows tables outside to be booked so some of us will arrive earlier at 11:30 to bag a couple of tables. There should be about 20 of us in total. Do come along if you can.
Before looking at the answers, if you would like some additional help, click the label below.
Hints...
- How are your Italian greetings and farewells?
- The fish has been smoked.
- The engineer is perhaps best remembered for his designs for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.
And click on this label to get the solution.
Solution and explanation of the answers...
1 US President used to be nothing special (10)
WASHINGTON – WAS (used to be) (nothing)* [special].
7 Right now I am extremely nonchalant holding bomb (8)
IMMINENT – I’M, [extremely] N{onchalan}T, [holding] MINE (bomb).
8 Rent's increased, we hear (4)
HIRE – Sounds like, [we hear], HIGHER (increased).
9 Negative response to gym being cancelled? (4)
NOPE – NO PE (gym being cancelled).
10 Sense from man before a group (7)
HEARING – ME (man) A RING (group).
12 Turned up and cooked rice for so long (11)
ARRIVEDERCI – ARRIVED (turned up) (rice)* [cooked].
14 Sculpture embodying right quality (7)
STATURE – STATUE (sculpture) including , [embodying], R (right).
16 Very dark in Indiana and Kentucky (4)
INKY – IN (Indiana) KY (Kentucky).
19 Forget nothing when Timothy returns (4)
OMIT – O (0; nothing), TIM [returns] -> MIT.
20 Plain or new dairy confection (8)
ORDINARY – OR, (n (new) dairy)* [confection].
21 Picks someone up front before ballots (10)
SELECTIONS – S{omeone} [up front], ELECTIONS (ballots).
1 Mature females without mature males (5)
WOMEN – W/O (without) MEN (mature males).
2 Captain's beginning to sell fish (7)
SKIPPER – [Beginning to] S{ell} KIPPER (fish).
3 Couple I encountered on the way up (4)
ITEM – I, MET (encountered) [on the way up] -> TEM.
4 Prepare to earn money? (3,5)
GET READY – Double definition the second a cryptic hint.
5 Different hero evolved over time (5)
OTHER – (hero)* [evolved] T (time).
6 Famous engineer in the end replaced by one in country (6)
BRUNEI – BRUNE{l} (famous engineer) with the last letter replaced with I (one).
11 All of us in England extremely concerned with etiquette at first (8)
EVERYONE – E (England) VERY (extremely) ON (concerned with) E{tiquette} [at first].
12 Fall in Mississippi (6)
AUTUMN – Cryptic definition.
13 Met on train by arrangement (3,4)
RAN INTO – (on train)* [by arrangement].
15 His Lordship, say, is frequently strict with the French (5)
TITLE – Alternate letters, [frequently], of sTrIcT, LE (the in French).
17 Battle many presaged to a degree (5)
YPRES – Hidden, [to a degree], in manY PRESaged.
18 Change as tide rises? (4)
EDIT – TIDE [rises] -> EDIT.
I entered GET going without really thinking but when I saw ARRIVEDERCI I had to take out the going and discovered READY. Other holdups were not seeing plain for a long time as the definition for ORDINARY and thinking France not Brunei was the coountry required. Fortunately I remembered Brunel eventually. After solving I got thinking if "real" had been clued somehow instead of "rice" " arrivederla" could have been the solution! Thanks, Sawbill (and John), very enjoyable workout.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I enjoyed setting the ‘for so long’ part of the ARRIVEDERCI clue.
ReplyDeleteI struggled to get going with this one at first with 16A being my FOI. The bottom half went in a little faster, not aided in the top by entering BRUNEL for 6D, believing that it would be difficult to have an 11 letter word ending in “I”. Once I corrected this, ARRIVEDERCI fell in, leaving 11D as LOI. Difficult to pick a favourite clue, but probably 21A just sneaks in.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for this very enjoyable puzzle, pitched at just the right level (for me, anyway).
Thank you. ARRIVEDERCI is an odd word written down.
DeleteTook me a while to get going. Had to work from the bottom up and needed the hints. Just realised I have been mentally spelling ArrivAderci wrong all my life (poss thanks to the song Arrivederci Roma) Liked SKIPPER, INKY, NOPE, HEARING, IMMINENT, among others. Put BRUNEL at first. Struggled with WOMEN and WASHINGTON!
ReplyDeleteThanks vm, Sawbill.
Countrywoman
Thanks countrywoman, interesting to me that different solvers like different clues. I think that WASHINGTON was my favourite while setting.
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON was certainly one of the clues that I admired when I road-tested the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyable 17 minutes solve
ReplyDeleteLoi everyone
Thanks sawbill
Find very difficult to post on this with usual tft nickname. Anonymous unfortunately much easier. Boovers
ReplyDeleteThanks … I agree about commenting on this platform.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this, so thanks. Needed the solution post to parse1d w/o men and 11d everyone, also still not clear why 12d Mississipi - perhaps someone might explain this cryptic. Really liked 1a Washington, 12a arrivederci.
ReplyDeleteAUTUMN is the Fall in Mississippi (USA). The surface is trying to play with the idea of ‘falling’ into a river.
DeleteA very nice puzzle, which took me just under 9 minutes. Sawbill, you are becoming more generous to us poor solvers! Washington and Women were my first two in - Women is a lovely clue, and if it has not been used before, congratulations on coining it. From there the top half went in very smoothly, and the bottom half took only slightly longer once I had worked out Autumn. LOI was Everyone, as for a long time I could not see past "extremely concerned" giving me C D; it was only when the checkers gave me a V that the penny dropped.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Sawbill for a very enjoyable puzzle
Cedric
Thanks Cedric. I have consciously been trying to make them a tad easier.
DeleteThanks Sawbill for a very enjoyable puzzle which was just at the right level for me. Some very well disguised anagrams e.g. 13d.
ReplyDeleteLast one in was Everyone which took some effort.
Really appreciate these weekend treats.
Thanks for the feedback. RAN INTO worked out well as an anagram.
DeleteSo nearly snuck in under 10 minutes which is rare for me. At 8 minutes I had only 6d left. Unfortunately I took another 2:11 to fathom it out!! It so nearly was a PB!! Having said all that I loved the crossword and thought it was aimed perfectly at us lesser solvers! Thank you. MM
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent time and I am pleased that you think the crossword was accessible.
Delete